


Passing Notes

by teenunicorn



Category: Neon Genesis Evangelion
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Fluff, Love Confessions, M/M, Oneshot, everything's normal, no one dies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-04
Updated: 2017-07-04
Packaged: 2018-11-23 02:54:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11393901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teenunicorn/pseuds/teenunicorn
Summary: Shinji’s come to terms with the fact that he “like-likes” Kaworu and decides to finally do something about it.





	Passing Notes

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this written for a month and I finally decided to finish it + post it last night at midnight, so here it is.

The school bell screeches just before Shinji walk-runs into his first class of the day, late again. Out of breath, he practically drinks down the air, trying to get a hold of himself before he has to sit down in his assigned seat. As he’s awkwardly making his way across the classroom (although he didn’t actually look, he can _feel_ that the teacher’s death beams are trained on him), he makes the mistake of making eye contact with Kaworu, who sits in the seat in front of his. Kaworu gives him a wry, cat-like smile and a small thumbs up because Shinji is at least not fifteen minutes late like yesterday. Shinji blushes with further embarrassment at both being late and Kaworu having noticed, and immediately looks away and shuffles to his seat.

Once his heart stops pounding, a result of speed walking and his close proximity to Kaworu, he finally gets to the order of business for the day: not math, the subject of the hour, but how the hell he’s going to confess to Kaworu today.

After months of Misato, his adoptive mother, nagging him about the not-so-little crush, which she learned about when she found him drunk and blubbering on the couch about how he would be all alone for forever because there was no way that someone like _Kaworu_ would like someone like _him_ , he’s finally mustered up the courage to maybe, perhaps, like actually _tell_ the other boy about his feelings.

“You’ve got to, like, talk to people if you want to go out with them!” Misato had lectured him time and time again, at the most embarrassing and, sometimes, inappropriate of times. Much to Shinji’s chagrin, Misato was no good at keeping a secret, so Asuka, another foster kid Misato took in, almost immediately caught wind of Shinji’s sexual preferences, and took to calling him a pervert whenever she had the chance (as if being bi meant that Shinji wanted to pounce on anything that moved).

So here he is, sitting at his desk nervously and trying to not think about how Kaworu is a mere foot and a half in front of him, hands shaking as he tries to silently rip a piece of paper out of his notebook, hoping that the teacher – who is droning on (again) about the importance of a solid foundation in mathematics, Shinji’s worst and most boring class – won’t notice. He slowly tears the paper at a rate of one fiber per second, sweat practically pooling in his palms and his fingers shake, and he knows people can definitely hear him because Asuka turns around and shoots him a dirty look before hissing, “God, Shinji, stop making that annoying sound!” Shinji’s heart stops; what if the teacher notices?!

Thankfully, due to the ancient scholar’s fading acoustic senses, he doesn’t hear Shinji or Asuka at all. Shinji sighs in relief, but groans internally when he realizes he’s at the tricky part: coming up with what to say.

_Hey, Kaworu! Are you free after school? If so, can you meet me behind the bleachers at 3:15? -Shinji_

No, too awkward.

_Kaworu, I need to talk to you. Please meet me behind the bleachers at 3:15. -Shinji_

No, too formal.

_Kaworu, there’s something I’ve been wanting to tell you. Can you meet me behind the bleachers at 3:15? -Shinji_

Well…it’ll have to do. Math is nearing its blessed end, but it's the only class he and Kaworu have together, so he has to act quickly (Shinji knows it’s got to be now, or he'll never have the courage to attempt this ever again). Shinji can only focus on one thing at a time: moving the pen or spelling properly. In his panicked, adrenaline-riddled brain, he has to cross out three mistakes (he can’t bear risking tearing out a fresh sheet) and nearly misspells his own name, but catches himself at the last minute and folds up the paper in half, and then in half again.

Glancing up at the board and the teacher (for the first time in the fifty minutes he’s been there) to make sure that he isn’t looking in this direction, he reaches out and taps Kaworu lightly on the shoulder. Kaworu turns around and quirks an eyebrow, seemingly just happy that Shinji actually made physical contact with him, but when Shinji holds out the piece of paper, his hand quivering, under his desk, he smiles gently (almost knowingly) and takes it from him.

Shinji panics when Kaworu doesn’t open it up immediately. _What is he doing? Why doesn’t he read it? Does he even know what passing notes is?_ One of Kaworu’s many (adorable) quirks was that he always seemed to be ignorant about societal customs. Shinji supposed he couldn’t help it, being brought up by extremely religious parents from some controversial Christian sect; however, it was both enormously endearing and frustrating at the same time. _Damn it, what am I supposed to do? I can’t call attention to myself during class, but this is my only chance…_

“Hey, Shinji?” Shinji barely registers a warm, but concerned, voice say. Then he feels a hand on his shoulder. He pieces together red eyes, and furrowed, worried eyebrows. A pretty, pale face mere _inches_ from his own.

“Ahhhh!” Shinji yelps, startled out of anxious thoughts as well as his admittedly wobbly chair and onto the floor. Kaworu immediately bends down to help Shinji up.

“Oh no! Shinji, are you okay?” Kaworu asks, bending down to help him up, looking perhaps even more worried than before. Shinji nods, not trusting himself to not accidentally bite his tongue off in his clumsiness.

“Oh gosh, I apologize all the same, Shinji. This is my fault,” Kaworu laments, offering his hand to Shinji to help him up. Shinji blushes, but finds himself taking it anyway, those strong fingers and cool palm in a firm grip around his own pitifully sweaty hand.

“It-it’s okay! I-I really should be more aware of my surroundings, I’m always so clumsy!” Shinji anxiously searches for the right words to atone for the sin of accidentally making Kaworu apologize for his own ditzy clumsiness. “And so space-y, I missed the bell, didn’t I?"

“Yes, we both did,” Kaworu responds with a chuckle.

“Oh god, I’m so sorry-”

“It’s fine, I have a free period now.”

“But still, you didn’t need to waste your time on me!”

“I think any time I spend with you is an excellent use of it,” Kaworu reassured him, giving Shinji another one of those feline smiles.

 _Ohmygodohmygodis **he** flirting **withme** –_ Shinji’s mind whirls.

“Also, I can definitely meet with you after school.” Kaworu gives him a dorky thumbs-up. "3:15, right?”

“Yup!” Shinji finds his mouth moving for him, and even that the corners are turned up in a smile he can't hide.

“Great, I’ll see you then!” Kaworu says, just as the bell rings. Shinji finds himself glued to the floor there, in front of Kaworu. It is the fluffy-haired boy who finally breaks the spell. “Oh, you probably need to get to your next class, no?”

“Ah, yeah, that’s right! I’ll see you later,” Shinji awkwardly responds, gathering up his things and waving bye to Kaworu.

~~~

Shinji’s the first one to arrive behind the bleachers; after all, he left his last class (gym, of all things) before the bell even rang, ignoring his gym teacher’s stare. His anxiety to talk to Kaworu outweighed the anxiety of making his physical education teacher hate him for a little while.

When he doesn’t see Kaworu waiting there for him, though, he’s partially convinced that Kaworu is blowing him off.

 _What was I thinking?_ Shinji’s anxious mind screams as he’s pacing in circles. _That someone like me could go out with someone like Kaworu? Even if he just forgot, Kaworu probably has something more important to do than to talk to me anyway, how could I have been so **stupid**?_

“Hey, Shinji! Sorry to keep you waiting,” a familiarly soothing voice calls out.

Kaworu! “No, it’s okay!” Shinji shouts back, waving at Kaworu as he approaches from the school building. “I wasn’t waiting for long!”

Kaworu smiles so wonderfully, effortlessly, at Shinji’s words that Shinji is instantly intimidated.

“So, Shinji,” he says, “what did you want to talk to me about?”

“Uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh,” Shinji starts to stutter, looking into Kaworu’s deep red eyes and blushing hard.

The other boy’s eyebrows immediately scrunch up in worry. “Is something wrong, Shinji?” he asks, reaching out to touch Shinji’s shoulder. “I’m sure that whatever it is, you can tell me!”

The skin that comes in contact with him lights up like Shinji has brushed up against a hot stove. “I-I wanted to say that, well…”

“Don’t you trust me, Shinji?” Kaworu asks, concern distorting his face.

Shinji's heart races. “Y-yes of course I do-“

“Then please, just tell me!“

“Will you go out with me?” The words burst out of his mouth before he can stop them.

Kaworu’s mouth hangs open.

 _Oh no, I’ve ruined everything!_ “I-it-it’s okay if you don’t want to-“

Warm arms surround him in a hug. Now it’s Shinji’s turn to be speechless. “No, Shinji! I would love to,” Kaworu says when he pulls back.

Shinji just feels like crying, he’s so happy, tears stinging the corners of his eyes.

“C-can I kiss you?” Kaworu asks. Shinji’s lips have barely formed a “y” when Kaworu pulls their heads together, Kaworu’s head tilting so their noses don’t bump together when their mouths meet.

Shinji’s skin tingles at the various points of contact — Kaworu’s hand on his neck, the other on his waist, and, of course, his lips against his own — and the effect both enamors him and frightens him so much that he almost doesn’t register the noise going on above him.

The two boys separate only to find their classmates on the bleachers above them, in various states of approval. Most of them — Touji, Kensuke, Hikari, and the others — are cheering, and Rei is looking on with a small, rare smile on her face, but Asuka is just giving Kaworu and him a death glare.

Still on the chemical high from the kiss, Shinji sticks out a tongue at her, not caring about whatever daggers her eyes were shooting at him. Kaworu laughs, and the two go in for another kiss, an encore that gives way to a standing ovation in the audience above.

**Author's Note:**

> I really wanted to write about Shinji being super nervous about asking Kaworu out, and getting super worked up about it, so I can vicariously live through my writing and challenge myself to write something (mostly) happy for once (maybe I'll be happy if I only write happy things? :P).


End file.
